McBath claims that SYG laws “encourage and empower people like the man who shot and killed my son” to shoot first and ask questions later. She goes on to state, “These laws go so far as to grant untrained civilians more leeway to shoot than the U.S. military gives soldiers in a war zone.”

It’s not until near the end of the op-ed that McBath drops this bombshell: Her son’s killer was convicted of first-degree murder. Truth is, bad guys have been claiming self-defense forever, and will continue to do so. Removing the requirement that a lawful citizen must retreat before exercising the human right of self-defense does not, and will never, empower criminals to commit murder.

Tennessee Woman Shoots Attacker, Saving Herself And Others

Dieshunn Lindsey picked the wrong woman to pick on. And Latesha Hinton gave him her best shot.

It happened early Sunday morning in a small Chattanooga, Tenn., neighborhood, when Lindsay approached the woman and began an argument—and she became terrified. It was then that Hinton pulled a gun she was carrying and fired at her attacker, leaving Lindsay with a non-serious wound. Chattanooga police investigating the scene reported that Hinton “reasonably feared for herself and others” when she shot, declaring it an act of self-defense.

Lindsey was treated for his injuries before being arrested for aggravated assault and five counts of reckless endangerment, as well as several other counts stemming from previous warrants.

Anti-Self-Defense Bill Under Consideration In Maryland

A measure under consideration in the Maryland House would severely restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners who carry a firearm for self-defense.

House Bill 159, sponsored by Delegate Ben Barnes, would ban the possession or carrying of firearms on college campuses. According to NRA-ILA, current law allows each university to set its own policy regarding the carrying or possession of firearms, and this legislation would institute a blanket prohibition that would disallow schools from using discretion on their campus.

HB 159 also imposes extreme penalties—including fines, up to three years in prison, and the potential loss of Second Amendment rights. The measure is scheduled to be heard in the House Appropriations Committee at 1 p.m. on Jan. 31.

Chicago Off To Even Deadlier Start Than Last Year

Coming off a grim year in which it racked up 762 homicides—more than New York City and Los Angeles combined—the Windy City has seen 2017 pick up where 2016 left off. As of Monday, 42 people had been murdered and another 228 shot—representing a 23.5 percent and 5.5 percent increase, respectively, over the same period last year.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson knows that the vast majority of these murders aren’t being committed by law-abiding gun owners, but by repeat offenders with known ties to gangs. And while he’s been critical of the criminal justice system—“We just don’t have a deterrent to pick up a gun”—changes aren’t coming any time soon.

So can the Donald Trump administration make a difference? Let’s hope so. He was an early supporter of Project Exile, which promises quick federal prosecution for armed criminals. And he promises to move swiftly to begin taking dangerous armed criminals off the streets using existing federal law.

The NRA, the Gun Owners’ Action League, and several firearm dealers and owners filed suit in a Boston federal court on Monday to overturn Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s unilateral expansion of the state’s “assault weapons” ban, the Boston Globereports.

In July, AG Healey took it upon herself, without legislative approval or anything else, to effectively rewrite a law passed nearly 20 years earlier to ban what she called “copycat assault weapons.” As she wrote, “If a gun’s operating system is essentially the same as that of a banned weapon, or has components that are interchangeable with those of a banned weapon,” then that gun, too, is banned.

As the lawsuit points out, this decree “retroactively criminalizes decades of legal behavior and transactions” and “exposes the plaintiffs and other gun owners to criminal penalties for exercising their Second Amendment rights.” Therefore, the suit argues, the law should be declared “void and unenforceable.”